5 things to know before you get your dog’s Gut Health Test Report

Taking a Pooch & Mutt Gut Health Test is the first step in your dog’s gut health journey, and with posting that sample, you are well on your way to getting your dog feeling at the top of their game!

Once your dog’s sample is on the way to our lab for analysis, there’s no time like the present to dip your toe into the world of all things gut health. That way, you can be fully prepared to digest exactly what the results are telling you and understand the reasoning behind their scores and tailored supplement plan.

So, whilst you eagerly await your results, we’ve summarised the top five things you should know about your report before it arrives. 

1.  Get to know your dog’s Invisible Health Score

When you first open up your dog’s Gut Health Test Report, you’ll be faced with their Invisible Health Score.

This is an accumulation of all the different layers of what constitutes your dog’s gut health and will be your first indication of your dog’s results.

This takes into account everything you told us about your dog, including their breed, lifestyle, history and diet, as well as everything deduced from analysing their poop sample. 

Whether your dog suffers from gut health-related symptoms or not, this Invisible Health Score not only gives you an indication of what’s going on inside your dog, but also how equipped they are to tackle emerging symptoms later down the line.

Working on maintaining or restoring this score helps towards alleviating current symptoms and preventing others from developing later!

2. Meet their Community Markers

When reading through your results, you’ll also come across your dog’s Community Markers.

When popped under a microscope, your dog’s poop provides the perfect, representative snapshot of the bacteria living in their gut. 

Analysing what bacteria are present, as well as their proportions, gives us an idea of how well equipped your dog is to support important bodily functions like digestion. 

Not only that, it gives us an idea of how well they’re able to fight off nasties and bounce back after disruption (which can be anything from a course of antibiotics to eating out of the bin when you’re not looking). 

When analysing the ecosystem of bacteria living within your dog’s gut and assessing its state, we’ve focused on 4 key areas: 

The Diversity of bacteria present, the Richness, their Balance and Resilience.

Not only do these key markers help build out your Invisible Health Score, but the score for each shows us how stable and adaptable your dog’s gut ecosystem is.

3. Knowing their Health Indicators

Another section you’ll be greeted by in your dog’s Gut Health Test Report is their Health Indicators.

This is where we’ve particularly focused on analysing the presence of bacteria that are responsible for the support and function of other crucial bodily functions. These include digestion, nutrient absorption, and inflammation control.

Seeing whether they have the bacteria needed to efficiently support these bodily functions helps us further understand their current or potential symptoms, as well as their overall gut health and resilience. 

The scores given to each indicator reflect whether the groups of bacteria are at ‘just the right’ level in order to support these functions. 

If these are highlighted as low in your results, it simply means there’s room for stronger support. For example, your pooch may need supplements that provide their gut with the support needed to efficiently absorb fibre (which may have been manifesting itself as constipation for your dog).

Like a missing piece of the puzzle, we can clearly see what’s needed to fill the gap and get these key functions running like a well-oiled machine.

4. Diet is not the only contributing factor

Of course, diet does play a role in your dog’s gut health, but when it comes to what can contribute to lower scores, there’s a long list of things that impact the crucial balance of bacteria in your dog’s gut. 

And some of them even hold more of an impact than diet, and remain out of our control.

This can include, but isn’t limited to:

• The area in which you and your dog live. For example, dogs that live near water will be exposed to different levels of bacteria than those that live in the countryside or even in the city.

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How where you live is affecting your dog’s gut

• Who they live with. Whether they live with other dogs, other pets, or even children can have an impact on their gut microbiome and should be considered.
  
  
  
• Their start in life. Being a rescue dog, being rescued from overseas or not spending enough time with their mother at birth can all impact the balance of their microbiome.
  
  
  
• Their medical history. Parasites, medical conditions, medication, or antibiotics can all have long-term effects on their gut microbiome, even if these issues were resolved while they were puppies.
  
  
  
• Their breed. The way some dogs have evolved over time means their gut microbiome will naturally need extra support.
  
  For example, spitz-breeds (Akita, Husky, etc.) have evolved on high-protein diets, so are better at digesting protein but not fibre. This means they would likely benefit from extra support through fibre supplements.
  
  
  
• Age. Puppies are born with relatively healthy microbiomes, but for all dogs, no matter how great their start in life, diet or other impacting factors, their microbial diversity will decline with age.
  
  This is what makes intervention, prevention, and maintenance key to kicking potential symptoms to the curb before they develop. It also helps to support your sweet, senior pooch in their later years.

5. Low scores? No need to panic!

It’s important not to look at your Gut Health Test Report like your school test results.

There’s no pass or fail here, and there’s no reason to panic. Your overall Invisible Health Score, whether it’s Poor, Okay or Good, is nothing more than a guiding light - a starting point for the rest of your dog’s gut health journey!

With all of the impacting factors that can knock your dog’s microbial balance out of whack, low scores are extremely common. 

And with many of these factors well out of our control, low scores aren’t the sign of a bad dog owner. If anything, taking this test and actioning these results is the sign of a terrific one!

Lower scores simply highlight areas where your dog’s microbiome could use some extra support. And after taking on board your results, every small step you take will help build up long-term resilience and help ensure optimum health and wellbeing for your dog. 

A Good score, however, doesn’t mean the journey stops there either…

The health of a dog’s gut microbiome will also naturally decline with age. This means keeping up this score with dietary supplements and great gut health etiquette is crucial for keeping symptoms at bay, and your pooch happy and healthy for the long haul.

Keeping all this in mind will hopefully help you get the most out of your dog’s Gut Health Test Report when it arrives. But for extra revision, be sure to explore our Gut Health blog, or get in touch with our expert team with any questions.